Whenever I feel like I haven’t produced anything in a while, I look at what stories I’ve posted. 2016 might not have been my most prolific year, but I did write – and post – a little bit over 66,000 words, across 22 stories. I’m not including the work I did on the rewrite of my sci-fi adventure story, or all of the back story snippets I hashed out when the editing wasn’t working to my liking, or the starts to stories I scrapped or set aside because I went back to editing and rewrites, because those have not been seen by eyes other than mine. They would also be a lot harder to calculate.
Not a great year for output, but not as poor as I’d originally suspected when thinking back on it.
Not every one of these stories is great, but each one represents a personal effort, and my desire to become a better storyteller. If I had to pick a favorite, I know which one I’d choose…but I won’t say because a parent playing favorites is not a good thing. 😉
For those of you who took time out of your lives to read any of these, and especially to those folks who let me know what they thought, thank you from the depths of my artist’s heart. Hearing that I’ve touched, amused, or entertained someone else with these stories keeps me going day after day.
What was your 2016 year in writing like? Any surprises, challenges, or turnarounds? Here’s looking forward to a strong 2017 in all of our writing goals!
I’d say it was a fairly productive year overall! Especially for FMW! Even if you did more Borderlands and editing of your old work, I would dare say Rob and Daniel have brought you more joy 🙂
I’ll admit, I accomplished more in 2016 than I expected, just a bit less than I hoped to. I’m most excited to expand my combined Universes storylines, though Bryan and Lance are a fun break to get back to the “real world”. If anything, I just want to be able to match what I posted this year that I did last year, so we shall see!
Always looking forward to more of your works!
Looks like a productive writing year to me, especially when you did a bunch of rewrites! I think it’s kinda cute that you treat your stories like precious children, where even the “mischievous” ones still get love instead of thinking of them as trouble spots that you had to work through.
This year, I surprised myself in writing the beginnings of what I hope to be my first novel over the summer, but when school hit, I told myself to back off on the writing and just do some fan fiction to keep in the writing practice. I’m pretty happy that I was able to write even a page or two a night, but I never could get more than five or seven out a night, which was kind of a bummer.
Looking at how much you’ve written, I’m considering writing short pieces like what you do, especially when I get stuck in a story. Right now, I’m trying to put some distance between myself and one of my works, so maybe doing little snippets might help me get back that spark. I guess I fried myself with all those essays!
I hope 2017 will be a better writing year for us!
Thanks, shade.
I keep my fingers in the Borderlands stuff mostly because it’s an easy stress outlet. But, you’re right: the cast of the “Finding Mister Wright” support stories has really captured my imagination over the last three years. I feel a little bit bad for Marshall, since this whole universe started as his story, and Daniel, Rob, and Paige have pretty much taken over!
I find your combined universes stories really fascinating, because they mash up a lot of lesser characters (and originals) into a compelling adventure. But, Lance and Bryan brought out a lot of your inner voice this past year. Their strength and conflict is very human, and we don’t get to see that as clearly as in your dogfights. (I do really enjoy the dogfights, though. I aspire to them, in fact!)
I am always looking forward to seeing what you come up with next, too! Happy writing!
Thanks, spooney.
Wow, your output is impressive! I have no doubt that you can put out novels once you get back into writing original work full-time. (It usually takes me days – if not longer – to produce seven pages! The FMW stories are a fluke in that regard, in that they always trip so easily from my pen.)
I really like writing shorter pieces, personally. Sometimes, they do help reignite my interest in one of my bigger projects, but more often, they’re acknowledgments of the little side-lying plots that are buzzing around my head. All writing is good writing, though, and I’ve found even some of those smaller stories have highlighted opportunities for greater advancements in the larger ones.
Here’s hoping to a strong 2017! Happy writing!
2016 was kind of a difficult year. I did write some more stories, but I scrapped two big goals along the way. One was to write a first draft of a novel. The second was to start a short story series, kind of like what you do with Finding Mister Wright. I think I set the bar too high because I was basing my goals on what other writers accomplished. At the end of the year, I thought about everything I accomplished and what I didn’t. There were times where I had to take time away from writing and assess who I was and what I wanted to do as a writer. I had to be honest about myself and my skill set. I came to realize that writing a novel or a short story series wasn’t the best thing for me right now. And I accept the fact there’s nothing wrong with it.
This year, I set more realistic goals. I created plans to meet those goals. I do want to push myself into uncharted territory, but I also have to realize my limits as a writer. There’s only so much I can do. I hope I can meet my goals this year. I hope the same for you.
The act of setting goals is more important than we might at first think, George. I think you’ve done a lot this past year! Even when we fall shy of our highest hopes, making progress is what counts. And taking serious assessment of what it is we want to do with our writing has a lot of merit. That takes time. It’s also just as valuable to realize what we don’t want to do, as what we do want to do.
Here’s looking to a strong writing year!
I think you produced a great amount of work! Look at all the variety! And you’ve stayed true to some stories, by keeping them going. I know what you mean about playing favorites, although my line is “My favorite is the next story I’m going to write.” 🙂
2016 wasn’t a productive year for me in terms of generating more projects, but I was productive with revisions. I wasn’t able to make my end-of-year deadline happen but I blame estates and wills and slow lawyers for that! Hopefully, 2017 will open up more writing/freelancing time for me so I can find my momentum again. Here’s to 2017 being a successful writing year for both of us!!
Funny, isn’t it, how the unexpected events of life sneak up on us?
I saw your post for today – the one about new year resolutions accountability – and I think that we’re probably both in for a better year, Kate. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!